Siemens opens new wind turbine blade facility in the USA

Siemens Power Generation (PG) continues to expand its manufacturing capacities for its growing wind business. PG officially celebrated the grand opening of its new wind turbine blade factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, on September 21, 2007. The factory is expected to produce approximately 600 wind turbine blades per year, which will be shipped to wind farms in the U.S. It is the company's first manufacturing plant for wind turbine components in the US., for which the total investment is more than EUR20 million.

Since the acquisition of Bonus Energy in 2004, Siemens has made significant strides to grow its presence in the wind energy industry in the U.S. In 2006, Siemens ranked second in market share in the U.S. with an installed capacity of 573 megawatts (MW). The company expects to greatly exceed this number in 2007. So far this year, Siemens has already received wind turbine orders totaling more than 550 MW in the U.S. Altogether, these projects have the potential to provide clean power to nearly 160,000 homes.

Siemens established the 311,000-square-foot turbine blade manufacturing facility in Fort Madison to better meet the strong demand for clean wind energy in the U.S. Blades for the company's 2.3-MW wind turbines are manufactured at the new site. The first 148-foot-long, 12-ton blades were delivered to a customer site in Texas in August 2007. So far, the company has hired 220 employees in Fort Madison - a number that is expected to grow to 260 people by the end of the year.

The total employee headcount of the Siemens Wind Division has quadrupled since the acquisition of the Danish company Bonus Energy in December 2004. Siemens Wind Power now employs more than 3,200 employees worldwide, including 400 people in the U.S. The number of its wind turbine installations also has tripled since 2004. The company expects to install 1,500 MW of new capacity worldwide in 2007.

Since entering the wind industry, Siemens has greatly expanded the capacities of its worldwide manufacturing network. In addition to opening the wind turbine blade manufacturing facility in Iowa, the Danish facilities in Brande and Aalberg have been expanded, and a new blade factory was opened in Engesvang, Denmark, in 2006.

"By opening a new factory in Iowa we will be able to increase our ability to competitively serve the important North American market," stated Andreas Nauen, head of Siemens Wind Power, during the grand opening ceremony of the new facility. "We are especially pleased that we were able to build our first U.S. facility in Fort Madison. Iowa is one of the most supportive states of wind energy and other renewables."